Copycat Hostess Cupcakes (Oven or Air Fryer)

These copycat Hostess cupcakes give you everything you loved about the cellophane-wrapped original — moist chocolate cake, a marshmallow cream center, a glossy chocolate top, and that unmistakable white squiggle. Bake them in a regular oven in about 18 minutes, or in the air fryer in about 10. Either way, the homemade version is softer and the filling actually tastes like something.

I first made these because my kids asked for Hostess cupcakes and I didn’t feel like heating up the whole kitchen for a batch of cupcakes. The air fryer is still my go-to on hot days, but when I’m making a full batch for a party, I bake them in the oven. I’ve made them both ways, and I’ll walk you through each one below. If you’ve never baked in your air fryer, this is a good place to start, since cupcakes are small, forgiving, and cook fast.

Oven or Air Fryer: Which Should You Use?

Both give you the same cupcake. The difference is how many you’re making and how hot your kitchen already is.

Bake them in the oven when:

• You want the whole batch at once. This recipe makes about 20 cupcakes. Two muffin tins and 20 minutes, done.
• You’re baking for a crowd. Parties, bake sales, school treats — the oven is faster for volume.
• You want the classic method. If you’ve baked cupcakes before, nothing here will surprise you.

Use the air fryer when:

• It’s hot out. No preheating a big oven, no heating up the house. This matters in July.
• You only want a few. Bake six now and six later; the batter waits just fine on the counter between batches.
• You want flatter tops. The circulating air sets the tops quickly, which gives you a more even surface for dipping in ganache.

One honest note: neither method makes these healthier. They’re still cupcakes with a half cup of oil and two cups of sugar in the batter. The air fryer is a speed and convenience tool here, not a diet tool.tter. The air fryer is a speed and convenience tool here, not a diet tool.

Ingredients for Copycat Hostess Cupcakes

Full measurements and step-by-step directions are in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post, along with nutrition information.

For the Chocolate Cupcakes

• All-purpose flour — the structure. Spoon it into your measuring cup and level it off; scooping packs in extra flour and gives you a dry cupcake.
• Unsweetened cocoa powder — natural or Dutch-process both work. Dutch-process gives you a darker, more Hostess-looking crumb.
• Baking powder — your leavening. Check the date on the can. Old baking powder is the number one reason cupcakes come out flat.
• Salt — sharpens the chocolate and keeps the sugar in check.
• Granulated sugar — sweetness, and it holds moisture in the crumb.
• Heavy cream — this is what makes the cake tender. It’s richer than the milk or buttermilk most copycat recipes use, and it’s why these stay soft for days.
• Vegetable oil — oil-based cakes stay moist at room temperature in a way butter-based cakes don’t. Same reason the boxed stuff uses oil.
• Eggs — binding and structure. Room temperature blends in more smoothly.
• Pure vanilla extract — rounds everything out.
• Boiling water — don’t skip this and don’t use warm water. Boiling water blooms the cocoa, which deepens the chocolate flavor and thins the batter so it bakes up soft. For a richer cake, use boiling coffee instead. You won’t taste coffee; you’ll taste more chocolate.

For the Marshmallow Cream Filling

• Unsalted butter, room temperature — whip it smooth before anything else goes in, or you’ll get lumps you can’t fix.
• Marshmallow creme — the signature. Jarred fluff is what you want here.
• Powdered sugar — sweetens and stiffens the filling enough to hold a squiggle.
• Heavy cream — added a tablespoon at a time until it’s pipeable.

For the Chocolate Ganache

• Semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped — chop a baking bar rather than using chips. Chips have stabilizers that keep them from melting into a smooth glaze.
• Heavy cream — heated just to a simmer, no further.

Heavy cream note: you’ll need about 1¾ cups total across all three components. Buy a full pint.

How to Make Copycat Hostess Cupcakes

Step 1: Make The Chocolate Batter

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. In a second large bowl, whisk the sugar, heavy cream, oil, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Pour the wet mixture into the dry and mix just until combined — stop as soon as the flour disappears. Overmixing develops gluten and gives you a tough, rubbery cupcake.

Whisk in the boiling water last. The batter will look alarmingly thin. That’s correct. Thin batter is what makes these moist.

Step 2: Bake in the Oven

Preheat your oven to 350°F with a rack in the center. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners and fill each two-thirds full — no more. These rise more than you think, and overfilled liners spill over into a mushroom top you can’t dip in ganache. This batter makes about 20 cupcakes, so use two tins or bake in two rounds.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. If both tins are in at once on separate racks, swap and rotate them at the 10-minute mark. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then move to a wire rack and cool completely.

Want flatter tops for dipping? Bake at 325°F for 20 to 23 minutes instead. Lower heat means less of a dome, which makes the ganache dip cleaner.

Or: Air Fry the Cupcakes

Preheat your air fryer to 325°F on the air fry setting for 3 minutes. Fill silicone liners or an air-fryer-safe muffin tin two-thirds full.

Air fry for 9 to 10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Work in batches, leaving about ½ inch between liners. Cool completely on a wire rack before you go anywhere near them with filling.

The same method works for my Easy Air Fryer Chocolate Cupcakes if you want a plain version without the filling.

Step 3: Whip the Marshmallow Cream Filling

Beat the room-temperature butter with a hand mixer until it’s genuinely smooth, about 30 seconds. Add the marshmallow creme and beat to combine. Add the powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Add 3 tablespoons of heavy cream, mix on low until it comes together, then turn the mixer to medium and beat about 2 minutes until light and fluffy. If it’s too stiff to pipe, add one more tablespoon of cream.

Step 4: Fill the Cupcakes

Load the filling into a piping bag fitted with a long, narrow tip. A Bismarck tip is made for this, but any tip that can pierce the cake will do. Push the tip straight down into the center of a cooled cupcake and squeeze gently. You’ll feel the cupcake swell slightly in your hand — that’s your signal to stop. Pull the tip straight out and repeat. Save about a quarter of the filling for the squiggles. Don’t skip this; it’s the whole look.

No filling tip? Use a paring knife or an apple corer to cut a cone about an inch deep from the center of each cupcake. Spoon or pipe in the filling, slice the point off the cone, and press the top back on. The ganache hides the seam.

Step 5: Make the Chocolate Ganache

Put the finely chopped chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. Heat the cream just until it simmers at the edges — don’t let it boil — then pour it over the chocolate right away. Let it sit undisturbed for 4 to 5 minutes. Resist stirring; the residual heat is doing the work. Then whisk from the center outward until smooth and glossy.

Step 6: Glaze and Add the Signature Swirl

Dip the top of each cupcake straight down into the ganache, lift, and give it a small twist as you pull up to break the drip. Or spread it on with an offset spatula if dipping makes you nervous. Let the ganache set for about 15 minutes, then pipe the white squiggle on top with your reserved filling and a small round tip.

How to Get the Hostess Squiggle Right

The squiggle is seven loops. Not five, not nine — seven. That’s the Hostess signature, and it’s the detail people notice.

• Use a small round tip (Wilton #3 or #4). A star tip gives you ridges, and it looks wrong.
• Wait until the ganache has set. Pipe onto wet ganache and your white loops sink and blur into the chocolate.
• Practice five or six on a sheet of parchment first. It takes about a minute to find the rhythm.
• Start at one edge, loop across in a continuous line, and finish at the other edge. Steady, medium speed; going slow makes it wobble.

Troubleshooting

• The tops are dark but the centers are raw. Your oven or air fryer runs hot. In the oven, drop to 325°F and add 3 to 4 minutes. In the air fryer, drop to 310–315°F and add 2 to 3 minutes. Every appliance is calibrated differently, and the display is a suggestion, not a promise.
• The liners tipped over in the air fryer. Free-standing silicone liners are light. Set them in a metal muffin tin, a silicone muffin mold, or a small cake pan that fits your basket.
• The cupcakes sank in the middle. Almost always underbaking, or opening the oven door or basket too early. Give them the full minimum time before you check.
• The cupcakes domed too much to dip. You filled the liners past two-thirds, or your oven runs hot. Level them with a serrated knife and dip the cut side — nobody will know. Next time, try the 325°F oven method.
• The filling won’t hold a shape. Too much cream, or your butter was too warm. Chill the filling 15 minutes and re-whip.
• The ganache is grainy or seized. Your cream was too hot, or you used chocolate chips. Chips are made to hold their shape when heated, which is the opposite of what a ganache needs. Chop a real baking bar.
• The ganache is too thin to coat. Let it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes; it thickens as it cools. Don’t refrigerate it, or it’ll go past you and turn into truffle filling.

More Ways to Bake Copycat Hostess Cupcakes

Same batter, same filling, same ganache. Only the pan and the timing change.

Method	Temperature	Time	Notes
Conventional oven	350°F	18–20 min	Standard muffin tin, paper liners
Convection oven	325°F	15–18 min	Check at 15 minutes
Toaster or countertop oven	325°F, bake setting	17–20 min	6-cup tin; tent with foil if tops darken
Air fryer	325°F	9–10 min	Preheat 3 minutes; work in batches
Mini cupcakes (oven)	350°F	10–12 min	Makes about 48; use a small filling tip
Mini cupcakes (air fryer)	320°F	6–7 min	Silicone mini molds
Jumbo cupcakes (oven)	350°F	25–28 min	Makes about 8
Sheet cake (oven, 9×13 pan)	350°F	32–38 min	See below

Hostess Cupcake Sheet Cake

Bake the batter in a greased 9×13 pan. Cool completely, then push your filling tip about an inch deep every 2 inches across the cake and squeeze until you feel it swell. Pour the ganache over the top, spread it to the edges, let it set, and pipe rows of white loops across the whole cake. It’s the easiest way to serve these to a crowd.

The Cake Mix Shortcut

If you want these on the table faster, skip the scratch batter. Use a boxed devil’s food or chocolate fudge mix and prepare it according to the package.

• Oven: bake according to the box directions, usually 18 to 21 minutes at 350°F.
• Air fryer: 330°F for 9 to 12 minutes.

Then fill, glaze, and swirl exactly as written above. I’ve put the full air fryer method in How To Make Boxed Cake Mix Cupcakes In The Air Fryer. The filling and ganache do most of the heavy lifting anyway.

Storing, Freezing, and Making Ahead

• Room temperature: Filled and glazed cupcakes keep in an airtight container for 2 days. The heavy cream in the batter keeps them soft longer than a typical cupcake.
• Refrigerator: Up to 4 days. Pull them out 30 minutes before serving; cold ganache looks dull and the filling firms up.
• Freezer: Freeze the unfilled, unglazed cupcakes only. Cool completely, wrap individually in plastic wrap, and freeze in a bag for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature, then fill and glaze. Frozen filling weeps when it thaws, and you’ll end up with a soggy center.
• Make ahead: Bake the cupcakes a day early and store them covered at room temperature. Make the filling up to 3 days ahead and refrigerate it; bring it to room temperature and re-whip before piping. Make the ganache the day of.

Recipe Variations

Gluten-free. Use a cup-for-cup gluten-free flour blend. The batter is forgiving because of the boiling water and oil. Let it rest 10 minutes before filling the liners.ing smoothly. Chop a semi-sweet baking bar and heat the cream only to a simmer.

Golden Hostess cupcakes. Swap the chocolate cake for a vanilla base — my Air Fryer Vanilla Cupcakes work perfectly — keep the marshmallow filling, and glaze with the same chocolate ganache.

Mocha ganache. Stir ½ teaspoon of espresso powder into the hot cream before pouring it over the chocolate. It deepens the chocolate without tasting like coffee.

Dark chocolate ganache. Use a 60–70% bar instead of semi-sweet. The filling is very sweet, and the darker glaze balances it.

Cherry-filled. Drop a maraschino cherry into the center before piping in the filling, the same idea as my Air Fryer Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes.

Copycat Hostess Cupcakes FAQ

What temperature do I bake Hostess cupcakes at in the oven? 350°F for 18 to 20 minutes in a standard muffin tin. For flatter tops that dip more cleanly, bake at 325°F for 20 to 23 minutes.

What temperature do I set my air fryer to for cupcakes? 325°F on the air fry setting for 9 to 10 minutes. That’s about 25 degrees lower than the oven, because circulating air browns the tops much faster.

How many cupcakes does this recipe make? About 20 standard cupcakes, 48 minis, or 8 jumbo.

How many cupcakes fit in an air fryer at once? Between 4 and 9, depending on your basket size. You’ll be working in batches, and the batter waits just fine on the counter.

Do I need to preheat my air fryer? Yes, for 3 minutes at 325°F. Baked goods need a hot environment from the first second, or the leavening starts working before the structure sets.

Can I use paper liners in the air fryer? Yes, but they need support. Loose paper liners will unfold and tip over in a basket. Put them in a muffin tin that fits your air fryer, or use silicone molds.

How do you fill cupcakes without a piping tip? Cut a cone about an inch deep from the center with a paring knife or apple corer, fill the hole, trim the cone, and press it back on.

Can I make these with a box cake mix? Yes. Bake a devil’s food or chocolate fudge mix following the package directions in the oven, or at 330°F for 9 to 12 minutes in the air fryer. Then fill, glaze, and swirl as written.

What if I don’t have marshmallow creme? Beat 4 tablespoons of softened butter with 2 cups of powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and 3 to 4 tablespoons of heavy cream for a simple buttercream. It’s not identical, but it pipes beautifully.

Why boiling water instead of regular water? Boiling water blooms the cocoa powder, releasing more chocolate flavor, and thins the batter so the cupcakes bake up soft instead of dense.

Do homemade Hostess cupcakes need to be refrigerated? Not right away. They keep 2 days in an airtight container at room temperature, or up to 4 days in the fridge.

Can I freeze these? Freeze them unfilled and unglazed for up to 3 months, then fill and glaze after thawing. Frozen marshmallow filling gets watery.

Why isn’t my chocolate glaze shiny? You probably used chocolate chips, which contain stabilizers that resist melting smoothly. Chop a semi-sweet baking bar and heat the cream only to a simmer.

What’s the difference between Hostess cupcakes and Ding Dongs? Hostess cupcakes are frosted only on top and finished with the white squiggle; Ding Dongs are round cakes fully coated in chocolate.

Equipment You’ll Need

• Standard 12-cup muffin tin and paper liners (oven)
• Air fryer, basket or oven style, plus silicone liners or an air-fryer-safe muffin tin (air fryer)
• Hand mixer
• Piping bag with a long, narrow filling tip (or a paring knife or apple corer)
• Piping bag with a small round tip for the swirl
• Wire cooling rack

More Cupcakes and Copycat Treats to Try

• Easy Air Fryer Chocolate Cupcakes
• Air Fryer Oreo Cupcakes
• Air Fryer Strawberry Cupcakes
• Air Fryer Banana Bread
• Air Fryer Churro Donuts
• 25 Easy Cupcake Recipes

If you like this one, my other copycat recipes are worth a look, and everything I’ve ever made in an air fryer lives under air fryer recipes.

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